Oscar best foreign film winner in 1976 French director Jean Jacques Annaud, whose credits include "Lovers," "Bear,""Enemy at the Gates," will direct an adaptation of the best-selling Chinese novel "Wolf Totem." He participated the movie's launch ceremony in Beijing yesterday.

Jean Jacques Annaud and the Chinese version of "Wolf Totem" [CFP]

Annaud said he would like to create a new world of wolves.

The saga novel "Wolf Totem" tells a story between human beings and nature based on the author's 11 years of life experience in the prairies in North China. The book has sold more than 3 million copies in Chinese mainland since its first publication in 2004 and is among top 10 bestseller for 6 consecutive years.It has been translated into 30 languages and published in more than 11 countries.

Annaud said: "I read less than 100 pages of the book; however, I was totally attracted to it. So I decided to direct this movie, and only I could be the right director."

According to the filmmaker, this movie will tell the story about man and nature, the past and the future; and the wolves will play the leading role in the movie. And it is also revealed that the movie will be released globally in 3 or 4 years.

Annaud said that he cares more about finding appropriate actors for the roles than hiring movie stars.

(People's Daily August 19, 2009)